This invention relates in general to magnetic tape cassette recorder/player and, more particularly, to a magnetic tape cassette recorder/players having an uncomplex, reliable and compact magnetic tape cassette storage and handling apparatus.
In many applications, it is desirable to store a large amount of information on electronic media, such as to store analog or digital information on a plurality of magnetic tape cartridges or cassettes. Various types of storage systems have been proposed for storing a number of magnetic tape cassettes close to a magnetic tape recorder/player, so that individual cassettes are easily accessed by the recorder/player. In one such storage system, a plurality of magnetic tape cassettes are stacked in a vertical magazine adjacent to a magnetic tape recorder/player. Such storage systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,886,591, issued May 27, 1975, Inventor Bettini; U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,013, issued Jan. 2, 1979, Inventor Fisher; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,956,768, issued May 11, 1976, Inventor Covington. Vertical stacking storage systems are disadvantageous for the following reasons: (1) the reels of magnetic tape in the cassettes are stored in a flat position, thus tending to cause sideways shifting of the tape pack against the reel flanges, which results in tape edge damage, causing tape transport difficulties and recorded information degradation; (2) access to an individual tape cassette is slow; and (3) storage of a large number of tape cassettes requires the vertical dimension of the storage system to be unacceptably large.
In order to reduce the time for access to an individual magnetic tape cassette, various closed loop storage systems have been proposed. Thus, carousel type cassette storage systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,592,975, issued July 13, 1971, Inventor Ban; U.S. Pat. No. 3,631,426, issued Dec. 28, 1971, Inventor Appelt; U.S. Pat. No. 3,774,915, issued Nov. 27, 1973, Inventors Kozu et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,765, issued Aug. 14, 1979, Inventor Gysling. The systems disclosed in these patents includes a carousel type storage structure which store a plurality of cassettes in circumferentially spaced, horizontally disposed compartments. Since the cassettes are stored with the reels on edge, edge damage to the tape during storage is minimized. In the latter three patents, an elevator mechanism is used to load and unload a cassette into a magnetic tape transport station. In the former patent, the magnetic tape transport is moved into and out of contact with a cassette which remains in its storage compartment. An analogous system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,063,294, issued Dec. 13, 1977, Inventor Burkhart, which discloses a carousel like conveyor storage system. A tape cartridge transfer mechanism is located adjacent a magnetic transducing station. The storage systems disclosed in these five patents are disadvantageous either because of the use of a cassette loading station located adjacent to the storage structure which is relatively complex and space consuming or the use of a complex and expensive, movable tape transport.
Ferris wheel type cassette storage systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,525,086, issued Aug. 18, 1970, Inventor Lichowsky, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,287,541, issued Sept. 1, 1981, Inventors Tanahashi et al. The system disclosed in the latter patent is disadvantageous because of the complex and space consuming, side loading cassette loading device which loads a cassette into recording apparatus.